Interview: They want it to be illegal to teach about marriage

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The Greater Love Declaration has so far been signed by over 1,100 church ministers and workers, affirming that they will hold to the biblical definition of marriage between one man and one woman, no matter what the law might say. I spoke to Revd Dr Matthew Roberts, a lead author of the Declaration, to find out why such a public statement was necessary, and why now. 

Matthew talks of “a very deliberate push to overturn” the West’s Christian heritage. This has led to a “social shift in Britain so that lots of people seem now to assume that the teaching of marriage is an evil thing”. But when it comes to marriage and sexual ethics, he goes on, there is “an absolutely crystal clear historic Christian position”, which ought to be uncontroversial.

The prevailing modern view “reduces sex to a transaction in which I am the consumer and the other person is the provider”. He calls this a “miserable and deeply unloving way to go about life”.

Marriage is “inherently about the difference between man and woman”, but by distorting this “you’ve redefined the word so much that it now means something entirely different”.

The doctrine that your sexual orientation defines you is, Matthew tells us, “at the root of a huge pile of human misery” and a “huge catalogue of collateral damage”. Matthew argues that the mantra of “love is love wherever it is found” is “complete nonsense”. He points out that we all know, for instance, that it is not “loving” when a man abandons his wife for another woman, rather “it’s a deeply, deeply unloving thing to do”.

Campaigners for a ban on so-called conversion therapy, Matthew says, are “really gunning for… it to be illegal to teach about marriage”. That’s why he felt he had to “boldly and confidently” stand up for the traditional view on marriage and sexual ethics, stating “we’re not going to change”. Marriage is, he concludes, “so good for so many and so good for society as a whole” that “if we get thrown to the lions, we’ll do that too”.

Matthew is correct – one man, one woman marriage is the stabilising bedrock of society. That’s because it leads to best outcomes for adults, children, and even the economy. C4M campaigns for the support and promotion of the one thing that the body of evidence shows makes a difference – real marriage.